"At least ninety to one hundred Ships, possibly more." Gan Ning said from beside Dom, the loaded Ballista at the front of the ship now pointing in the direction of the oncoming ships. The Sibylla beside them following a similar routine.
"Unless the Persians are very fast, this is definitely Leotychides and their Greek allies." Zhou Yu stated as the Trireme of GiantWrangler headed out ahead of them, but within range of the Ballista if needed. There was anticipation across the deck, as if these Greek's decided that Dom's fleet was an enemy, they would be easily outnumbered and possibly destroyed.
"Should we have kept some of the other ships back, fifty looks much better than twenty." Gan Ning asked as he turned to Dom who was looking at the approaching fleet.
"No, we will tell them about our other ships when we speak that have headed to Halicarnassus and Tilos, the rest wouldn't have been part of this battle anyway. For now, let's prepare to meet our new allies." Dom replied, confidence that the game would have set them up with an opportunity and not throw them to their deaths upon arrival.
The opposing fleet soon came to a halt, with one of their own Trireme heading forwards towards the ship of Giant Wrangler. There was a sigh of relief at this point that they had decided to parlay, rather than come with aggressive intentions.
"Let's see what GiantWrangler signals." Gan Ning stated as he leant his elbows on the side of the Bellona and rested his head on his hands, as if he was bored.
Several minutes passed as the two fleets stayed out of reach of each other, whilst GiantWrangler and the other Trireme negotiated with each other. Most of Dom's crew were stood watching, whilst the rowers below held on to their oars as they awaited a command.
"He's signalling that it is safe." Zhou Yu stated as at the rear of GiantWrangler's Trireme a flag was waved from side to side slowly. He then turned to Centurion Cato and bellowed an order. "Take us, the Sibylla and the three other Trireme forwards to meet with the Spartans. The rest are to hold."
The five ships slowly approached GiantWrangler and the Spartan Trireme, with the large Bellona towering over the others. In the distance, five ships from the Spartan fleet also approached, whilst the rest of their fleet began to turn south directly towards the northern beaches of Delos, where as Dom's fleet were currently based outside the east.
The central ship approaching was slightly taller than the others and Dom felt that whilst it was slightly smaller than the Bellona, it was most likely also a Quinquereme and probably the Spartan King's flagship. The other four ships had different markings on their prows and sails but were all definitely Trireme of a similar quality to the Sibylla before it arrived in Riverside.
"Centurion Cato, can you get Haemon for us please." Zhou Yu shouted, asking for one of the Hoplite that was onboard and had knowledge of this era. Haemon was currently at the rear of the ship, where as they had all moved to the front near the Ballista to see the oncoming fleet. He soon arrived as they almost approached the waiting pair of ships. Zhou Yu turned to him and pointed at the ships approaching. "Do you recognise any of their colours?"
"General, the Central ship approaching will be Leotychides Flagship, the one on the left has the Spartan colours on their sail. I believe the two on the right from Corinth and the Aegina. The other on the left I am not sure on, it is most likely from one of the smaller islands or states loyal to Spartan, like Megara." Haemon stated as he looked, "No it's not Megara, surprisingly it's from Argos."
"Why is that a surprise?" Gan Ning asked as all of these names went over his head.
"They aren't particularly friendly with the Spartans normally." Haemon explained seriously as he looked beyond at the fleet that were heading south. "This is definitely those from the south, the Athenian fleet isn't here yet."
"How can you tell?" Zhou Yu asked with interest.
"Maybe it is because I am Athenian, but we are much better sailors." Haemon laughed before heading back to his post after he was dismissed.
"At least we know who we are meeting then." Dom replied, as Zhou Yu nodded in agreement.
.....
The twelve ships were stationary in the calm sea as the sun slowly began to make it's decent. Dom, Zhou Yu, Crassus and Artemisia were stood on the prow of the Agis, the Spartan Flagship. Several armoured Hoplite and Spartans were stood around, the majority of them older men with grey in their beards. Beside Dom were the other Captains of his Trireme's, with GiantWrangler, Steven McSteven, Wine Wind and Chung all decided to stand quietly behind him and follow the original plan. Artemisia currently wore a veil that covered her face that she had borrowed from Ban Jieyu, so as to not give away her identity yet.
The Sibylla had fresh sails with the Sabre Tooth Tiger on the front of it like the Bellona, as well as the installation of the Ballista on the front and two on each side. The structure of the ship was the same, but was reinforced and upgraded, so whilst it had similarities as Artemisia had demanded to keep, there were a lot of visible improvements.
"Lord Lazarus and his fleet have arrived to support us." The Captain who met with GiantWrangler introduced. King Leotychides stood there, a tall and extremely muscular man with grey in his beard. He had an intimidating aura about him and Dom felt that he was stood in front of a real king. Those from Ancient History were shorter than those from modern times due to many reasons such as diet, so Dom normally was one of the tallest in the room, even though he was of average height in reality. However, in this situation, Dom wasn't sure if he felt small due to Leotychides being tall, or if it was because he was imposing.
"A Strange flotilla of ships waiting for us at Delos. I am worried we have a spy in our ranks that gave away our destination." Leotychides stated seriously, whilst those around him silently stared at Dom and the others. Some of his group gave out a short laugh, however those behind Dom didn't overly react. Dom matched his stare, whilst he was young, he was clearly the leader of their small group of ships. Leotychides watched him for a few seconds in silence, before a light smile broke on his face. "Or have you made a simple guess?"
"We are from the east of Kypros, the Achaemenid Empire have caused us many problems and we felt that supporting the Greeks would be the best solution to our own problem." Dom explained calmly, having decided to use Cyprus which was far from the Greeks Peninsula, but part of them before the Achaemenid's had taken it from them. Artemisia had proposed this, as well as the rest of the direction of this conversation with Crassus and Zhou Yu's help. "We came to Delos to rest, as we are unsure of the water much further than this. We wanted to rest further north, but our scouts spotted enemy ships north of Halicarnassus and south of Samos."
"A tale we won't be able to prove, but we should discuss more as to where the enemy is based. Are they at Samos or are they at Halicarnassus, I believe they aren't that close to each other." Leotychides replied calmly.
"King Leotychides, it is best that we do not travel further from Delos, we are also unsure of the waters and there could be ambushes ahead." One of the other Captains stated, the words sounding like they were planned as they were spoke.
"You Argives are too soft, we are not afraid of an Ambush." Leotychides exclaimed sternly, however Dom could see from the Captain that he didn't take what had been said to heart.
"We have also come with gifts, to cement our alliance and prove our wish to support the Greeks in their fight." Dom stated, following the plan. He turned to Crassus, who brought forwards a box full of gold bars and jewels. The lifted the lid and showed it to Leotychides, with the Captains behind him all looking at it with greedy eyes.
"Friend, this gold will greatly help in our war effort and clearly shows that our goals align." Leotychides smiled, his tone changing to have a tinge if kindness in it, as two of his muscular Spartan Warriors behind him walked forwards and took the chest from Crassus. "The sun will set soon, and the sea will be less calm. Let's take our ships to the beach between our fleets and discuss our next steps. Whilst I disagree with our colleague from Argos, his words do hold some weight whilst we scout further out."
"Of course, I will direct my small fleet to follow you." Dom replied, as Leotychides began to turn, before turning back to face Dom.
"Your ship is impressive, those arrows on those giant bows look like they will be deadly in war." Leotychides commented as he looked at the Bellona, which was slightly higher than the Agis. There was a combination of jealousy and greed clearly in his eyes, and Dom hoped that the other Spartan leaders weren't the same.
"Ships approaching!" A Spartan shouted from the rear, as Leotychides rolled his eyes in response, clearly not impressed at being interrupted.
"Why is someone sailing at this time in open water, they should be finding some place to rest!" One of the other Captains frowned.
"It's the Athenian's." A Spartan who was watching the approach spat, before being reprimanded by his Captain.
"Those are our allies!" Leotychides chided him, before looking apologetically towards Dom, clearly putting on a front, whilst the other Captains had become less stern towards their new allies after seeing the gifts that had been brought. "Take us to shore, Xanthippus can find himself somewhere to place his ships and come find us. How many has he brought?"
"At least seventy King Leotychides, maybe more." The Spartan replied as the Captains nodded with relief, a large number that topped their fleet up to two hundred with Dom's contingent.
"Good, the Athenian's haven't let us down. Whilst we are out here, our brothers fight Mardonius and rid us of the greedy Persians. Xerxes has over stretched and will be destroyed, with our Athenian allies joining us, and those of Lord Lazarus, we shall destroy the enemies naval capacity." Leotychides stated loudly, so that all those onboard cheered his response. Dom could see that whilst there was greed and a high level of narcissism with the King, he was still a King for a reason. "Take us to Delos, we will discuss our next steps over some food. Xanthippus can come to us."
"We shall return to our ships and follow you in." Dom stated, as Leotychides looked at him again in thought. Dom felt that even though he had been briefed about the intense Spartan King, he wasn't fully prepared for his distracting and impulsive personality. He seemed to have quite spontaneous thoughts and Dom wasn't sure what he would say next. "We have brought some foods from our home that we can eat in celebration of our new alliance."
"Very well." Leotychides agreed with a wide smile, before turning stern again. "Put point those bows away from my ship, I wouldn't want to be shot in the back."